"Say, Puritan, can it be wrong/To dress plain Truth in witty song: What honest Nature says we should do/ What every Lady does, or would do?" -- Robert Burns

Despite its disadvantages, Scottish rock has railed against consequent ghettoisation to produce a body of music disproportionate to the size of its population. (Thank you, Brian Hogg, for that analysis.)

We're making sure that body never dies. Read, listen, be happy. Be tartan.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Anyone know these lads?

Awhile back, in my trawling for obscure Scottish acts, I stumbled upon The Wishing Stones, a band featured on The Sound Of Leamington Spa, Volume 1.Twee.net lists the group as being from Glasgow, however, following numerous forays on the ole search engines, I've discovered The Wishing Stones may not be as tartan as I originally thought.

As far as I can tell, the lone member with any sort of connection to Glasgow is John F. Niven, The Wishing Stones' guitarist. He graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1991 with a degree in English literature. Following his work with The Wishing Stones, Niven did A&R work with Scottish bands like Travis and Mogwai. He's made a career in writing, too, authoring a book for the highly recommended 33 1/3 series, as well as directing a short film named Tethered.

As for the rest of The Wishing Stones . . .

Information on drummer Andy Kerr is sparse. Those with a passing interest in popular music have likely heard the name Andrew Kerr, who helped found the Glastonbury Festival, but I'm highly doubtful this is the same individual, as the dates don't necessarily jive (the festival was founded in 1971; The Wishing Stones were recording and touring in the late 1980s).

And then there's Stuart "The Bull" Garden . . . Nothing could be unearthed regarding this chap.

So there you have it: A blog entry that tells you next to nothing. Not my finest moment, I know. At any rate, here's The Wishing Stones' "Beat Girl," which was released on Head Records in September of 1986. Three more singles followed that release before The Wishing Stones recorded their lone album, Wildwood.